NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

After both sides rested for a day, the fourth game of the series began.

However, compared with the crazy confrontation in the previous game, the intensity, excitement and fighting spirit of both sides in this game have declined significantly.

The Timberwolves had no intention of continuing the fight; their minds were no longer on the court. Their morale and fighting spirit had been completely shattered by Lin Tian in the previous game.

The Pacers were also not in good shape tonight. Like the Forest team, they were also immersed in the madness of Lin Tian’s last game!
How do you describe the process of this game?

The noobs are fighting each other!

How bad is that? Following Lin Tian’s 5-double in the previous game, he once again hit a near 4-double tonight!
可惜的是，他27投只有10中，3分球7投2中，罚球14罚9中，拿到31分11篮板13助攻8失误。

8 turnovers also created a new high in Lin Tian's playoff career.

So many mistakes and such a low hit rate actually show how relaxed Lin Tian was tonight.

He was so relaxed that he had a lot of casual shots and overly casual passes.

But obviously, no one thinks that Lin Tian played badly tonight, and no one thinks that he is a loser.

After his performance in the last game, no matter what he does tonight, everyone will just think he let the Timberwolves off.

This evening, the performance of both sides was in stark contrast to the previous game.

Both sides played very poorly, had very low hit rates, made a lot of mistakes, and played extremely badly.

But in the end, the Timberwolves had lower morale and performed worse, and because of their worse performance, they lost the game as they wished.

81: 92!

The Timberwolves lost the final game of the finals with a difference of 11 points.

4: 0!

The Pacers swept the Timberwolves, sweeping their opponents for three consecutive rounds!

Successfully won the championship in the 2003-2004 season!
The sixth in seven years and the fifth consecutive championship!
At the same time, the Pacers only had 43 wins and 39 losses in the regular season this year and ranked only eighth in the Eastern Conference!
These two numbers also allowed the Pacers to create several new historical records without realizing it.

Their record is worse than that of the Washington Bullets, who had 44 wins and 38 losses that year, surpassing them to become the championship team with the lowest regular season winning percentage, the fewest wins and the worst performance in NBA history!
At the same time, their eighth ranking in the Eastern Conference also surpassed the Rockets, who were ranked sixth in the Western Conference that year, becoming the lowest-ranked regular season championship team in league history!
Simply put, this year's Pacers are the worst, most underdog, most incredible, and most likely to be the championship team in history with the worst record and the worst counterattack!

Along the way, they defeated the 61-win Pistons, 49-win Bucks, 57-win Nets and 59-win Timberwolves.

Even though they have Lin Tian, ​​the league's top killer, the team suffered severe personnel turnover during the offseason and two main players of the regular season were injured. Lin Tian almost single-handedly led the team to win the championship!
This year's Pacers are definitely the most "single-core" championship team in history! There is no purer single-core team than this!

During the entire playoffs, Lin Tian was the team's leading scorer, assists leader, rebounding leader and steals leader. Even his blocks ranked second on the team after 10 blocks in the last game!
In addition, Lin Tian's average points per game during the playoffs led the team's second-leading scorer Artest by more than 20 points, and his assists exceeded the team's second-leading assist player Parker by 7 times!
These two cliff-like leading data also further illustrate how exaggerated and terrifying Lin Tian’s influence on the court is.

Not to mention that Lin Tian played the entire game during the entire playoffs in order to keep the team's fighting power on the court! Except for the slightly easier series against the Bucks, Lin Tian hardly had a rest in the other three series!

If we exclude the series against the Bucks and several games that went into garbage time, Lin Tian's average playing time in the remaining games exceeded 46 minutes!

It can be said that except for the games in which he was beaten, Lin Tian hardly ever rested!
As for why he didn't take a break?

This is not a problem at all!
With or without Lin Tian, ​​the Pacers are teams from two different leagues! The difference in strength is unimaginable!

If this Pacers team cannot be called a single-core team, then there is no such concept or saying as a single-core team in the history of the league!
Whenever this concept exists, Lin Tian and the Pacers will definitely be the first people and team to be mentioned!
In a sense, the shock that Lin Tian brought to the league and fans around the world this year was even more shocking and exaggerated than the year he won the unanimous MVP, the year he won all the playoffs, and the year he broke the regular season win record.

If we say that Lin Tian this year has the best individual performance and data in NBA history, it may be a little unstable. After all, there was a monster in history who averaged 50+25 per game.

But if we consider the final results comprehensively, it would be very reasonable for Lin Tian, ​​who won the championship, to be called the best single-season performance in history.

In short, after winning the championship this year, the Pacers dynasty, as well as Lin Tian, ​​have become more and more crazy, and more and more impossible to catch up with!
This night in Indiana was an absolutely sleepless night, as everyone was caught up in crazy celebrations and revelry!

When the whistle sounded to end the game, the Pacers players rushed onto the court to celebrate. Everyone was excited and celebrating and cheering wildly.

As for the Timberwolves players, after the loss, despair and pain of the previous game, although they were in poor condition in this game, their mentality had improved a lot. At least Garnett, Iverson and others did not choose to leave early after such a disappointing night.

They waited patiently for the Pacers' first wave of celebration to end, and then came forward, high-fived, hugged, and celebrated with Lin Tian.

However, after these people hugged Lin Tian one after another, they regretted it.

They found themselves too noble! Nobleness was unnecessary, nobleness was even a little stupid.

They overestimated Lin Tian's moral integrity and thought that Lin Tian would not be so shameless.

Because just after several people hugged Lin Tian one after another, Artest and Howard happily walked onto the court pulling four huge suitcases. Then they put the suitcases on the ground and opened all four suitcases with a "bang bang".

liquor!
It’s all wine, four full boxes of wine!

This is?

Iverson, Garnett, Sprewell and others looked at Lin Tian curiously.

They didn't understand why so much alcohol was suddenly produced at this time.

"Take a few bottles and drink them! They are all shipped from Minnesota anyway, and we bought them from you! It's super difficult for us to carry so much wine on the way and make sure they don't break!"

"Minnesota bought it?" Iverson didn't understand. Was the wine in Minnesota so good? Was it worth Lin Tian's special effort to import so much wine from that shabby place to Indiana?

"After the first game, we went to celebrate. We packed the bags that night!" Lin Tian smiled and patted Iverson on the shoulder, giving him the answer: "We agreed not to drink that night, so we brought the bags back to drink!"

"FUXX!"

After hearing this, how could Iverson not know that he had been fooled again?

He cursed and slapped away Lin Tian's arm that was around his shoulders, then turned and walked away from Lin Tian.

Iverson made up his mind that from today on, he would never say a word to Lin Tian again!
This bastard has no right to say even a word to me!

What kind of bastard is this who can mock others at this time?
Is this the fucking Q&A session?
Damn bastard!

Seeing several Timberwolves players leave cursing and looking disgusted, and refusing the drinks offered by the cheerful Artest and others, Lin Tian and others laughed even more happily. Is there a more perfect night than this?

Obviously not!
"Congratulations to you, Lin, and to myself." At this time, Bird also came over from the audience and hugged Lin Tian: "To be honest, these seven years are like a dream! It's really like a dream!"

"I still can't believe we can do all this! 7 championships in 6 years, 5 consecutive championships, countless honors, countless records, countless achievements! Lin, you said all this is true... FUXX! What are you doing!"

Bird was halfway through his words when he suddenly rubbed his thigh and jumped away from Lin Tian as if he had been bitten by a snake.

"You suspect this is a dream, don't you? Let me help you wake up! It hurts, it proves that this is definitely not a dream!" Lin Tian said with a smile: "Happy championship, Larry! Happy championship!"

"This is for you." Bird raised a bottle of wine and clinked it with Lin Tian in a heroic manner. Then he carefully licked the wine and put it down: "You have played your last game for Indiana, right?"

"You don't want to keep me?" Lin Tian did not answer, but asked directly.

"You can't stay." Bird shrugged helplessly and said, "Stern, the old fox, didn't come up with the so-called 'God Clause' to keep you in Indiana. He just wanted you to leave."

"According to this shitty clause, the most you can sign this summer is a 5-year, 2 million contract with an average price of 4000 million. All luxury taxes generated by this contract will be doubled. Damn it!"

Bird cursed again and said, "Even if you force the Simon brothers to death, they can't come up with so much money. You can help them make money and bring them honor, but they are definitely not Paul Allen or James Dolan."

"Indiana is not New York or Los Angeles. The market here can't accommodate such a big contract."

"You're not going to fight for it? I'm going to be very sad if you do that, Larry."

"Don't try that on me!" Bird looked at Lin Tian unhappily. "You bastard, you're not someone who would compromise for money! If I had only given you a 7-year, 1 million contract, would you have come to Indiana?"

"If Brother Simon can offer you a five-year, 5 million contract, I will grit my teeth, throw away my old face, and definitely try my best to keep you."

"But unfortunately, I've tested their offer. The maximum is 5-1 million for 1.2 years or 4-8000 million for 1 years. This is far from the highest contract you can get, so I'm not going to waste my pitiful dignity, nor am I going to waste my thoughts on you."

"I have a lot of other things to do this offseason! I'm very busy!"

"Busy? How busy can you be? Just signing a few worthless free agents and then spending the whole summer basking in the pain of losing me."

"That's hard to say." Bird suddenly smiled and said, "Maybe we will meet again soon. There are many things in this world that are hard to predict."

Lin Tian was too lazy to talk to Bird about this kind of thing, so he turned the topic back to his new contract: "Based on your understanding of this league, how much do you think those wealthy big players will pay me?"

"Are you sure you want to discuss this with me? How is this any different than talking to your ex about your new boyfriend?"

"There's a big difference." Lin Tian said firmly: "In our case, it's more like me consulting my ex-girlfriend on how to choose among 7-8 girls who are better than her."

"Asshole!" Bird cursed, then glared at Lin Tian and said, "First of all, no big shot will give you 5 million for 2 years. Even Paul Allen or James Dolan are not that crazy! 5 million for 2 years, an average salary of 4000 million plus double luxury tax."

"If they really give you this contract, it means they will have to pay more than 1 million yuan a year for you! No one would be so crazy."

"But a contract of 5 years and 1.5 or 4 years and 1.2 should be fine!"

"You can still get an average salary of more than 4 million and a maximum annual salary of 5 million in the next 3000-4000 years! This is already crazy."

"Our new labor agreement is known as the greatest, most comprehensive, and most loophole-free super agreement in the history of world sports. Under this agreement, Stern allows you to occupy 50-60% of the team's salary cap. It's crazy enough!"

"In order to make the bosses accept it, Stern even calculated the hush money in advance. It's double the luxury tax! Every boss can get a lot!"

"So what are your plans for this year?" After listening to Bird's analysis, Lin Tian did not respond. Instead, he suddenly changed the subject and brought the topic back to what Bird had mentioned before.

The main feature is that there will be a monkey stealing peaches for you anytime and anywhere, making it impossible for you to avoid or defend against it.

"I'm going to go and talk to O... FUXX! I won't tell you unless you're willing to sign a 4-year, 1 million contract with me. Then we can still be friends and everything will be fine."

"If you don't sign, nothing will happen! We are enemies, and I will not share any information with my enemies."

"Boring." Lin Tian shrugged his shoulders. He was too lazy to talk nonsense with this old fox. He also didn't care whether Bird was crazy or not. He wanted to go to Buss to buy O'Neal. He turned around and went to celebrate with Webber, Ginobili and others.

A few minutes later, when the first wave of celebration by the Pacers players was almost over, the temporary podium on the league's side was set up again. Stern's signature smiling expression greeted the Pacers players.

His face was full of relief.

Just looking at this guy's expression, you would definitely think that Lin Tian is his biological son. He studied hard abroad for 30 years, and once he returned, he made the whole family famous and proud.

But Lin Tian, ​​who knows Stern well, knows that no matter which team wins the championship, the old man will show this face of relief. At the same time, he guessed that the old man showed this smile, most likely because his contract with the Pacers finally expired. The old man hoped that Lin Tian would move to a big city and a big market at least five years ago, so that the brand power, influence and most importantly, the ability to attract money of the entire league could be taken to a higher level.

Now, the old man has finally waited for this day!
Lin Tian even recalled Bird's lewd smile just now. He suspected that Bird and his brother Simon behind him might have reached some dirty PY deal with this old fox a long time ago.

Otherwise, how could they all look so confident and determined to win?
In all likelihood, this old fox promised that if the Pacers win the lottery after Lin Tian leaves, he will compensate them with a No. 1 pick or something like that, allowing the Pacers to quickly complete the reconstruction.

Well... most likely yes!

Otherwise, the two old foxes, together with the Simon brothers who came to the scene, would not have laughed at the same time as if their wives had given birth to a big fat boy.

Lin Tian could see that it was a smile from the heart, a happiness that came from the soul.

"This year's champions, the Indiana Pacers!"

"This year's finals MVP, Lin Tian!"

After Stern handed the two trophies to Lin Tian one after another, the 2003-2004 season basically came to an end!

This season is over!

In principle, the new season will start with the draft in about 10 days, and each team will start to make various large and small repairs to their team's lineup from that time.

At the same time, everyone felt that the Simon brothers could not give Lin Tian so much money, so Lin Tian was basically certain to leave the Pacers, and all the teams were gearing up.

But it must be said that most teams did not think about trying to win Lin Tian.

After all, if it's just a contract with a starting salary of 3000 million, there would be a few big players willing to give it. But if it involves double luxury tax, there would be very few people willing to pay this money to Lin Tian!

If the double luxury tax wasn't too scary, teams like the Timberwolves and Lakers, which are extremely hungry for the championship and are just one step away from winning, would only need to spend 5 million over five years, and the league for the next five years would basically be over.

Unfortunately, with the double luxury tax, Lin Tian’s new contract appears to be worth 5 million yuan over 2 years, but in fact, it should be at least 5-4 million yuan over 5 years.

It's so scary.

There are no big guys like Eastern European oligarchs or Middle Eastern oil daddies in the league now. Because of this, basically everyone has concluded that although Lin Tian can theoretically get a super contract of 5 million yuan for 2 years, it is highly likely that no one will give it to him.

I really can’t give it!
It is now the beginning of the 21st century. At least half of the teams in the league are worth only 2-3 million yuan. There are even a few shabby small-market teams that may not even be sold for 2 million yuan. Even the most valuable Lakers and Knicks are capped at 10 billion yuan.

It seems impossible no matter how you look at it, to spend a team's money to sign champion Lin Tianchong.

However, precisely because of this, how much money Lin Tianxia can earn next season has become a matter of concern and curiosity for everyone.

At the same time, there is actually nothing to guess about Lin Tian’s next home.

It is speculated that there are currently five teams that are most likely to become Lin Tian’s next home.

James Dolan and his Knicks, who have publicly licked Lin Tian countless times, the world's richest man Paul Allen and his Trail Blazers, Lin Tian's former club, the Bulls, who once offered Jordan an annual salary of 3000 million and are in urgent need of recovery, and the Dallas Mavericks, owned by crazy boss Mark Cuban.

Finally, the Charlotte Bobcats, a new league team formed by the former basketball god Michael Jordan, are about to enter the league!

The reason why the Bobcats were included in the list is simple: they are poor!
This broken team is poor and penniless. The most important goal for the new season is to fill the poor ghost line. So with Lin Tian, ​​is there any need to fill the poor ghost line? It was full in an instant!

At the same time, if this team signs Lin Tian, ​​they don’t have to pay luxury tax at all!

Without paying the luxury tax, Lin Tian's contract starting at 3000 million would not be so scary.

In addition to Lin Tian’s personal relationship with Jordan, many people think that the Bobcats are Lin Tian’s number one favorite team!
Otherwise, why did Jordan play in your Indiana for a year after his comeback?
Is it really just for a scoring title and a championship?
This year, Jordan must have been constantly tempting Lin Tian to join his new team and constantly inviting Lin Tian to work with him!
If you think about it this way, everything will make sense!

Apart from these five teams, the rest of the teams had never caught Lin Tian's attention at all.

The temple was too small to accommodate him.

As for those teams that are ready to go, they are actually thinking about one thing: Lin Tian is gone, the Pacers collapsed, and he may not be able to fit in perfectly with the new team in the first year.

Well, we can definitely compete for the championship in the new season, right?
So, even though the 03-04 season has just ended, countless people have already begun looking forward to the 04-05 season!
They all feel that next season’s league will be extremely exciting, and next season’s league will re-enter the Warring States mode of fighting among heroes!
Next season will definitely be a year when heroes from all walks of life will rise together!
But of course, what no one expected was that Jordan and the Bobcats were the first team to be excluded from Lin Tian’s candidate list. He had no intention of meeting Jordan or giving Jordan any chance.

Jordan's draft pick + the lowest net worth among all the owners, absolutely hell mode!
Lin Tian is not a masochist, so he won't seek abuse.

The public could not imagine what Lin Tian was thinking, so of course there were things that Lin Tian could not imagine at all that night.

Halfway through the evening's celebration party, Bird quietly left the Pacers' VIP box and walked straight to the nightclub's parking lot. He then found a business car while mumbling all the way, opened the door and got in.

"Does it have to be tonight, in this place?" A middle-aged man wearing glasses in the business car rubbed his eyes and said helplessly, "We can meet anytime and anywhere, why do we have to make it like a drug deal?"

If anyone knows about American basketball, they will be able to tell at a glance that this middle-aged man with an impatient and slightly sleepy face is the leader, general manager and chief designer of the US men's basketball team: Jerry Colangelo!
He has served as the general manager and team leader of the US men's basketball team since 00 and has formed two US teams.

However, the two teams he formed were terrible. They at least won a silver medal in 00. But in the 02 World Championships on home soil, the American team was basically an experience bag, being upset and beaten all the way.

In this World Championships, the American team became a touchstone for strong teams.

Anyone who thinks they are a strong team has to come up and beat them up to show their strength and quality.

In short, the worst record in history in 02 has indeed cast great doubt on Colangelo's career. This year is his last chance. If the team he formed this year cannot achieve ideal results and regain the gold medal, then the day the Olympics ends will basically be the day he loses his job.

"It's more exciting this way, Jerry. Here, this is what I promised you." Bird held out his hand holding the wine glass and handed it to the person opposite him, then held out his other hand and said, "So, where's the thing you promised me?"

"When did I ask for this? What the hell did you watch recently?" Colangelo took Bird's glass inexplicably, then took out a piece of paper and handed it to Bird with a look of disgust: "This is what I promised to give you."

"The people you want are basically fine. I've written down the few who were a little hesitant or refused. I've also written down their current whereabouts. For example, if you want O'Neal, this guy has made it clear that he is not in the mood to play international games. He is now in Hong Kong, China."

"We can pick a date to fly to Hong Kong together and try to persuade him again."

"No need." Bird glanced at the list and said, "It's still not too late to wait for him to come back. Well, if there's nothing else, I'll leave."

"The players are waiting for me to celebrate with them! If I stay out for too long, they will get suspicious."

"Are you sick?" Colangelo couldn't help but curse. "You insisted on having me come out in the middle of the night and meet in the parking lot, and that's it? I thought you wanted to talk to me about personnel composition, tactical plans, and game details!"

"There's no need to talk about Jerry. You believe in me and I believe in you, don't we? I will do my best to win the gold medal and bring us back to the top." After Bird said this, he suddenly took the wine glass back from Colangelo's hand.

"I noticed that you didn't bring a driver. You drove here by yourself. It's better not to drink and drive. See you in the summer." Bird said as he waved his hand, got out of the car, and happily returned the same way.

As for Colangelo, whose face turned blue with anger?
Bird said: I wish you have a good dream like me tonight!

…………

"Don't worry, I promised you." In a personal club that was much higher-end, quieter, and more private, Stern squinted his eyes, picked up the wine glass, and clinked it with the Simon brothers opposite him.

"Even if you didn't intend to keep Lin, I will still compensate you! Next season, even if Lin leaves, I will continue to find ways to keep your games broadcast live across the U.S.! At least you won't fall out of the top five in the league!"

"I promise that you will appear in the Christmas games in the next few years. In addition, I will give priority to your team in the pre-season games and the World Championships to increase your team's international influence."

"Also, after you lose Lin, you will inevitably fall into a trough period. You will be selected in the lottery and targeted by other teams in the league. Your draft pick will be very high, very high!"

"Also, let me think about what else. Oh, right! The All-Star Game is a great way to make money. The All-Star Game in three years will be held here. What do you think?"

There are some things that Stern said very clearly, but there are other things that Stern said not so clearly.

But enough!

The Simon brothers were very satisfied. They picked up their glasses and said at the same time: "It is always a pleasure to cooperate with Mr. President. For a better tomorrow for the alliance!"

"For a better tomorrow for the alliance!"

Different people, different PY, different filth!

The only thing that is the same is the madness of the Pacers players!
After several days of revelry, the Pacers players rode on parade floats and began to parade in Indiana. They were going to carry out their championship parade journey which has been going on for 5 consecutive years!

This time of year is the happiest time for Indiana folks! They are truly happy for the team's achievements, and they release their passion to the fullest, celebrating with the players!
No one knows how much alcohol will be consumed throughout Indiana on this day, or how many children will be born ten months later, but everyone is sure: this day is the most celebratory day of the year in Indiana!
The route of the float parade basically goes around the city of Indiana, and finally stops in the square in front of City Hall, where the players, coaching staff, owners, and uniform staff give speeches in turn.

The process this year is naturally the same.

The Simon brothers, Bird, Carlisle, Artest, Webber who didn't play much in the game, and Ginobili... a group of people came forward one after another and expressed their true feelings to the fans, triggering waves of cheers, shouts or laughter.

At the end, Lin Tian came on stage. He stood in front of the microphone, looking at the thousands or even more Pacers fans in front of him, and said: "At this time every year, I always say one thing: Let's do it again!"

"But I think, today, I can't say that."

Although everyone had anticipated that Lin Tian would leave, at this time, when Lin Tian said it himself, all the fans still felt sad and unhappy from the bottom of their hearts.

Is this the end of our dynasty?

Too fast! Not long enough!

Then, all the fans in the stadium, led by someone, started roaring loudly, and then the shouts became a series.

"Give him money! Give him money! Give him money!"

"Leave Lin! Leave Lin! Leave Lin!"

Faced with the fans' booing, the two bosses couldn't help but look ugly. It was very difficult for them to force the palace in such an occasion.

At this time, it was Lin Tian who reached out to stop the fans from shouting and booing, and then he said: "Brother Simon, you are the best boss I have ever seen! I can feel their passion, generosity and love. My decision to leave has nothing to do with them."

"I just want to change places. I hope everyone can forgive me and understand me."

After Lin Tian said this, there was another round of discussion at the scene, and then slogans rang out again, this time louder, more orderly and more touching than before!

"Is OK! You can go!"

"Is OK! You can go!"

"Is OK! You can go!"

Lin Tian, ​​I don't owe Indiana anything! (End of this chapter)